Bosnia suspects on hunger strike refuse to plead
Source: Reuters
SARAJEVO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Bosnia's war crimes court entered a not guilty plea on Monday on behalf of two Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects, who are among 22 inmates that are on hunger strike demanding application of a more lenient law. Former detention camp guards and U.N. war crimes suspects Mitar Rasevic and Savo Todovic, charged with imprisonment and persecution of non-Serbs in and around the eastern town of Foca early in the 1992-95 war, refused to attend the hearing. "The accused chose not to be present to enter the plea and therefore I record that both the accused entered a plea of not guilty," Italian judge Pietro Spera told the court after Rasevic's and Todovic's lawyers informed him about the strike. "The accused are free to declare themselves guilty any time in the future," Spera said and closed the plea hearing. Last week 16 suspects who are being tried or awaiting trial and six already jailed from five to 40 years went on hunger strike demanding to be tried under ex-Yugoslavia's more lenient criminal code with a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. That law was in force when the alleged offences took place instead of Bosnia's 2003 code, which provided for a maximum prison term of 40 years. After adjourning two cases early last week, the court decided to proceed with trials without defendants. On Monday, however, it postponed another trial because of the four defendants' deteriorating health status. Rasevic and Todovic were charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise whose purpose was to imprison and keep in inhumane conditions non-Serbs from Foca and the surrounding area in the Foca prison from April 1992 to October 1994. Todovic, in the capacity of warden's deputy, exercised the powers and duties of the commander of the detention camp while Rasevic supervised at least 37 guards, the indictment said. The eastern town of Foca was the scene of some of the worst atrocities in the war that claimed more than 100,000 lives. The two were transferred from the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague in October to stand trial at the court which was set up last year to try lower- and mid-level cases. The U.N. tribunal has so far transferred seven suspects to the Bosnian court as part of its strategy to focus on the remaining top Balkan suspects before it closes in 2010.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
